November 2014

Let's look at a few of these images, going back to the Passover. When God instructs the children of Israel to take the unblemished lamb or goat and take its blood and spread it on the doorposts of their houses, He says to them, the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you and no plague will befall you to destroy you. Do you know what happened that night?

By R.C. Sproul

Let's look at a few of these images, going back to the Passover. When God instructs the children of Israel to take the unblemished lamb or goat and take its blood and spread it on the doorposts of their houses, He says to them, the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you and no plague will befall you to destroy you. Do you know what happened that night?

What if Jesus offered to pay our debt and the Father was not willing to accept His payment. All of His blood would not be enough to atone for our sins. It's only because the Father in all eternity has been determined to accept the payment of that blood sacrifice, that that debt can be erased once and for all.

By R.C. Sproul

What if Jesus offered to pay our debt and the Father was not willing to accept His payment. All of His blood would not be enough to atone for our sins. It's only because the Father in all eternity has been determined to accept the payment of that blood sacrifice, that that debt can be erased once and for all.

If you had the opportunity yet to see Ben Stein's movie "Expelled" and you come to the final scene of that movie where he's interviewing a famous British atheist, Richard Dawkins, and turns Dawkins upside down, and he finally just looks at him and says, Richard, what are you going to see if when you die, you wake up and God is standing there?

If we're going to understand why the blood atonement is necessary, we have to understand two things.

By R.C. Sproul

If we're going to understand why the blood atonement is necessary, we have to understand two things.

First of all we have to understand who God is, and second of all, we have to understand who we are. I would say the two greatest problems in theology that haunts the church today are these two. We don't know who God is. We don't know who we are. We have lost a true understanding of the sinfulness of sin.

Throughout church history, dear friends, there have been many efforts to deny the necessity of blood atonement. Pelagius in his debate with Augustine rejected the idea of a necessary atonement. In the 16th Century, the Soncinians rejected the necessity of blood atonement.

It's been a little over 50 years that I have been studying the mystery of the cross of Christ, and I've come to the conclusion that the day that I die and enter into Paradise, in the first 30 seconds that I'm there that I will have a quantum leap in my understanding of what took place on the cross. Now I must be satisfied with the feeble efforts of my own study during my lifetime, and trying to penetrate all that was involved in that action on the cross outside of Jerusalem.

By R.C. Sproul

It's been a little over 50 years that I have been studying the mystery of the cross of Christ, and I've come to the conclusion that the day that I die and enter into Paradise, in the first 30 seconds that I'm there that I will have a quantum leap in my understanding of what took place on the cross. Now I must be satisfied with the feeble efforts of my own study during my lifetime, and trying to penetrate all that was involved in that action on the cross outside of Jerusalem.

We see blood in every aspect of the atonement. The blood of Jesus is our redemption—the payment of the price for our freedom from sin. His blood is our justification—the legal basis for the declaration of our righteousness before God. His blood is our propitiation—our protection from the wrath of God. The wonder of the atonement is that we are saved by the shedding of blood: not our own blood, but the blood that God has shed for our sins.

By Philip Graham Ryken

We see blood in every aspect of the atonement. The blood of Jesus is our redemption—the payment of the price for our freedom from sin. His blood is our justification—the legal basis for the declaration of our righteousness before God. His blood is our propitiation—our protection from the wrath of God. The wonder of the atonement is that we are saved by the shedding of blood: not our own blood, but the blood that God has shed for our sins.

As we consider the three terms for atonement that Paul offers in Romans 3—word pictures that come from the marketplace, the law court, and the temple—we should see that all three of them are associated with blood. Indeed, each of these aspects of atonement depends on the blood of Jesus for its efficacy. Atoning blood satisfies the deepest need of the human race.

By Philip Graham Ryken

The Blood of the Atonement

As we consider the three terms for atonement that Paul offers in Romans 3—word pictures that come from the marketplace, the law court, and the temple—we should see that all three of them are associated with blood. Indeed, each of these aspects of atonement depends on the blood of Jesus for its efficacy. Atoning blood satisfies the deepest need of the human race.

John Newton wrote about this atoning grace in his diary. Newton had been heavily involved in the slave trade and was guilty of many crimes against humanity and sins against God. As he lamented his lost and sinful condition he was weighed down with shame and tempted to despair.

The symbolism of the blood is further clarified by its function in the Old Testament rituals of atonement. The high priest would take the blood and sprinkle it on the atonement cover, also called the mercy seat. The mercy seat was the golden lid on the Ark of the Covenant, located in the Most Holy Place of the temple, which was the earthly location of the Divine Presence. The mercy seat itself was a place of divine judgment, because the ark underneath the mercy seat contained the law of God, which the people had broken. Sprinkling blood on the mercy seat, therefore, was a way to put the blood of the atoning sacrifice between the holy God and his sinful people.

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